State of the States

India has 29 states and seven union territories that include Delhi and Puducherry. What kind of life have these 36 administrations given us? Piecing together information from various sources that are publicly available we present the state of the economy, health, education, infrastructure, crime and punishment and governance in each of these outposts.

First, let’s put a few perspectives in place. One, we have classified the states into three categories: ‘A’ is about states with a population of at least 5 per cent of India’s population. ‘B’ represents states with a population of 2.5 per cent of India’s population. The rest of the pack make up for ‘C.’

There is a separate categorisation for Union Territories. We have made a couple of adjustments. Delhi, which has a sizeable population, is placed under Category ‘C’ states, while Puducherry, whose population is negligible, stays under Union Territory. Telangana has been left out since some parameters relating to it are not available.

The deck now has A (8 states), B (6 states), C (15 including Delhi) and UT (6 excluding Delhi)

Let’s tell you how we have gone about with the analysis. We tracked 20 parameters and categorised them into six major categories.

MEASURING HAPPINESS

‘Economic progress,’ leads to happiness. The five principal measures are per capita GDP, asset ownership, poverty, unemployment and inflation. Let’s look at their importance in turn.

1. Per capita GDP:

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the earnings of a state during a year and is an indicator of economic performance. It’s similar to the annual earnings of a family. A better signpost of happiness is per-capita GDP, which is the ratio of the state GDP to state’s population. It’s an indicator of the standard of living as also the productivity of a state’s workforce.

2. Homeownership:

Not just in India but the world over, home ownership is a matter of status and achievement. Research shows that home owning leads to better wealth, health, and happiness. It is good for the economy. As buyers scale up, the multiplier effect works since furniture, home loans, and construction material industries benefit.

3. Prosperity:

Prosperity is the measure of success in society. Food, drinking water, sanitation facilities, healthcare and education represent some of the pre-requisites for a minimum standard of living. It depends on both income and access to services. We have taken the percentage of people living below the poverty line and deducted it from 100 per cent to arrive at the index of prosperity.

4. Inflation:

If I could buy ten dosas with Rs 100 ten years ago but can buy only four now, it means there has been an inflation in the price of dosas. In the long run, the rise happens because of an increase in the money supply. Reasonable inflation can be healthy. It is one marked by both increase in money supply and improvements in the economic growth of the society. Changes in the Consumer Price Index are a good measure of inflation. The state with the lower inflation index is ranked higher.

5. Employment

In economic speak, the employment rate is the share of the labour force, which are qualified and willing to work, that has jobs and incomes. When the economy is doing well, the employment rate should rise as it creates additional economic investments, which in turn create jobs and revenue. The employment rate is the ratio of the employed population to the working age population. We picked the unemployment rate per 1000 and deducted it from 1000 to arrive at the employment rate.

MEASURING WELLNESS

It’s not just enough that you are economically better off. You must also be in good health. Life expectancy, infant mortality, and open defecation have a say in wellness.

6. Life expectancy:

Life expectancy measures the average lifespan of a person based on various demographic factors. The life expectancy of an individual is affected by genes, economic status, food habits, fitness regime, sleep pattern, climate and education, to name a few. The availability of healthcare facilities in the demography as also sanitation awareness affects how long you will live. A more extended life is an indication of the physical quality of living.

7. Infant mortality (per 1000):

How many of our kids die before they celebrate their first birthday? That’s infant mortality for you. Factors that lead to this are parental education, societal expectations, medical infrastructure, including health and sanitisation, malnutrition, economic status of the parents and immunisation against infectious diseases. Increase in infant mortality rate is a negative reflection of the physical quality of life. Lower the rate, higher the rank.

“Infant mortality and life expectancy are reasonable indicators of general well-being in society,” wrote O’Rourke.

8. Toilet availability (per cent):

It’s hard to believe that in the 21st-century large parts of India practice open defecation. It’s a health hazard, and hence the presence of public sanitation facilities is positive indicators of a state’s wellness, public awareness, and quality of living. Extensive restroom in tourist spots as also on the national highway is a must, failure to do could lead to broader public health safety concern.

MEASURING LEARNING

You can be economically well off and in good health. But you must embrace the culture of learning. Gross enrolment rate, literacy and college availability impact education.

9. Gross enrolment rate

The total enrolment rate is the percentage of student enrolment to eligible students and is a rough indicator of the knowledge quotient of the state. A ratio of 80 per cent indicates that a state has accommodated 80per cent of its primary school age population into education.

10. Literacy

India’s census defines literacy as the ability to read and write in a language. A person who can merely read but not write is not considered literate. The literacy rate is the ratio of the number of literates to the total population aged seven and above.

11. Colleges per lakh

This is an indicator of the importance given by the government towards learning and development, a college is the temple of learning.

MEASURING READINESS

Are we ready for growth? Is the infrastructure good? Electricity penetration, standard state highway and mobile penetration are good indicators of an economy’s state of readiness.

12. Electricity penetration

Electricity penetration refers to the percentage of people who have access to electricity. Electricity serves as a proxy for socio-economic growth and is a critical indicator of infrastructure development. Increased access to electricity improves education, entertainment, health, comfort, protection, and productivity.

13. Standard state highway

The highways link cities and towns within the state and connect them with National Highways. This linking is crucial in assessing business feasibility as these roads make the areas more accessible.

14. Mobile penetration

Mobile penetration indicates the speed of technology diffusion. It is the number of mobile subscribers divided by population. Some studies suggest a positive relationship between GDP per capita and mobile penetration.

MEASURING GOODNESS

How good are we as a state? You get some idea of this by looking at pending court cases, crime rates and the safety for women.

15. Pending cases

It represents the number of cases with the courts for which we are awaiting judgment. It is an indicator of the effectiveness of the judiciary system. It is expressed as a percentage of pending cases out of the total cases registered in a state.

16. Crime rate

Crime rate measures the number of offenses committed in a state over a period as a percentage of the total population. It indicates the performance of the police.

17. Safety of women

The crimes against women are sexual assault or rape. Public safety measures, efficient police service, and helpline numbers add value to the safety of women in a state.

MEASURING GOVERNANCE

Are we governed well? Do our leaders set an example for us to follow? How clean are they? Do we have a good number from the fairer sex? What is the ease of doing business in India?

18. MLA with clean record

MLA’s are the elected representatives representing the people of a state. It is essential that they have a clean track record.

19. Women MLA

It is an indicator of the importance given by the government on gender equality.

20. Ease of doing business

Ease of doing business index has a positive impact on the economic growth of a state. We can measure this index by looking at the ease of starting a business, cost of running a business, electricity, registration, getting credits, investor protection, transparency in tax laws and corporate laws.

RANKING

A first rank indicates the best performance.

Within a category (such as Economy) the states were ranked in respect of each parameter (like per-capita income, asset ownership, etc.) The geometric mean of these ranks is taken to get the overall rank under a category. The geometric mean is applied to ensure that disparities arising out of low followed by high ranks are neutralised.

So who are the winners and who are the laggards? The details are captured in the Table given in page 30.

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